iTunes LP has been in the centre of a controversy storm since one indie record label head claimed Apple was keeping the new album artwork format for the majors only, but Apple’s just promised to open it up to any music maker that wants to have a go.

An Apple spokesperson has got in touch to tell us that the Cupertino company is “releasing the open specs for iTunes LP soon, allowing both major and indie labels to create their own. There is no production fee charged by Apple.”

That means that any label big or small will soon be able to craft their own iTunes LP files, filling them with video, pictures, lyrics, crib notes and more. And given the explosion when the iPhone was opened up for third-party developers, we’ve no doubt a similar takeoff will occur.

Apple didn’t say when it will be opening up the iTunes LP format but it’s great news for any slumming musicians looking for an extra way to get noticed.

These things are easy enough to create. Check out the Tuesday Spoils iTunes LP floating around to get an idea

http://www.gravatar.com James Holland

You want to create your own?! Do you have access to all the limited edition / previously unreleased material that goes into an iTunes LP then? Surely that’s the point….

charli

James you would be the artist in question so yeah, you have all that stuff.

charli

chill major folks. this really isn’t the news that folks think it is. Apple isn’t giving into the indies and were not holding the tech for only the majors. Steve Jobs said in the keynote when he announced the format that the labels would be making these LPs themselves. IE, it was always the intention of ‘opening up’ the format. But with any new item you need a full test run. You need to make sure that it is going to work and you don’t want to waste the time and money to try to replicate every possible system in house. so you release a limited run, watch the reviews, read the feedback etc. fine tune a bit and try again if needed. Plus at the same time you can be making a sort of ‘iweb for LP’ so that folks that don’t know how to read and decode things like javascript, css etc don’t have to. they just plug in the art, the links, the tracks and boom the software makes the format for them. but again this takes time to develop and test on various systems. thus why it hasn’t been released to the world (the majors were probably more than happy to be the test subjects cause they can afford some ‘wasted time’ that the indies can’t always)

BUT it was never the intention for Apple to make all of these or to only make them for the majors. As Jobs said from day one. Folks are making a mountain out of someone’s mishearing what was told to them.